Gilly, I was in the same boat as you are in just a few years ago!!! I had my tubes tied just after the birth of my last child. Probably about 6 months after, my cycle started acting up, cramps, major mood swings... etc. That wouldn't happen all of the time, but just enough for me to notice.

About 6 years after, I found out I was going through pre-menopause (at the age of 35) and started on natural hormones. I was estrogen dominant - which causes the fluctuation of periods, cramps, mood swings, so I was put on progesterone. Since I was taking natural progesterone that was compounded specifically for me by a licensed pharmasist (sp), our insurance company wouldn't cover the prescription!!! So, since I really didn't want to go on the synthetic stuff, I just stopped taking it.

2 years later, I was still having trouble. From what my OBGYN said, tubal litigation can cause some women to enter pre-menopause and menopause earlier than ususal. Well, I was tired of suffering, and tired of the monthly cramps, mess (yuk), mood swings (cry one minute - in a rage the next) I just looked at my doc and said - "PLEASE - take the damn thing out!!!!" I wasn't going to have any more kids, and I didn't really want to deal with all of this for the next 20 or so years, so she agreed with me about having a hysterectmy (leaving my ovaries). Because I had been estrogen dominant for so long, the lining of my vagina was thinning and causing other medical problems, so the insurance company (stupid people) did agree to it.

I don't know how old you are, or how long you have been dealing with this stuff................the best advice that I can give you is to go to a gynochologist - not just your reg doc who does your "poke & prods" - and discuss it with them. Perhaps they will have the solution you can deal with. There is absolutely no reason for you to feel the pain and discomfort that you are experiencing.. plus it is interferring with your daily life, and the amount of pain stuff you are taking can cause further problems.

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